BY MUD AND BY THUMB

May 29, 1924

We slept in a classy Hartford, Connecticut hotel last night and celebrated our last evening of the trip with a nice dinner at a steak place. A waiter told us that the writer Mark Twain used to live in a house just up the street, but the person who owned the house now was thinking about tearing it down. Local people are all upset about this, so I hope it turns out okay. Believe me, we would've dropped over to say hello to Mark ourselves if the man hadn't died 14 years ago.

We slept kind of late and hit the road around noon time. It was what they call murky outside, and rain started falling as soon as we got over the New York state line and turned south. Benny wanted to stay away from the crowded roads in the big city by going around it, but the more west we went the narrower and lousier the roads got, and pretty soon it wasn't a road at all but a mud track through farm country. The rain fell harder and the mud got thicker and it got into the Chrysler's engine and the gasoline tank and before you knew it the car just stopped moving in the middle of nowhere. Benny was real mad and made up more blue words than I'd ever heard because he thought the bastard Boston cops did something to the car before they gave it back to us.

Anyway, nobody drove by that could've helped us for the first hour, so we took our bags and just started walking. The good thing is that when we finally came across a small cafe called Hot Eats to dry off and have lunch, the owner had one of those radio machines going with a baseball game on. The problem was that it was the Yankees and Senators, and we didn't give two owl hoots about them. Then we heard the announcing man give scores of other games, and our ears got glued in seconds.

The weather in Boston was still okay, and the Phillies had just scored five runs in the 2nd off Barnes to take a 7-1 lead! We ordered fat sandwiches and colas but had a little trouble digesting things because the next time we heard the score the Braves had come back with four runs and it was 7-5 in only the 4th inning. Cripes, why did we leave town so early? How could they win without us?

Well, they did eventually. The farmers in the place were all rooting for the Yankees, but the game wasn't going their way and a lot of them walked out. The next time we heard a score from Boston it was 9-5 Phils in the 5th, and then the owner decided to close the cafe for the day so we had to leave not knowing what happened. Dang it all, they really need to invent a radio machine that somehow works in your car!

What car? We talked the owner into driving us back to help start the thing because the rain had stopped and hopefully the mud was drying, but guess what? It was gone again, and this time not taken but police but stolen by someone else, probably a crummy New York Giants fan. Benny had had enough of the whole car business and didn't want to get shot looking for it and said it was time to just forget about it and put our thumbs to work.

So the cafe owner drove us south as far as Nyack, then turned us loose. We stood on a busy road for a good half hour before a man in an open truck with his two boys and three dogs picked us up. They were all nice and the dogs almost licked our faces off but the ride only got us down to New Jersey. From there we had a bunch of short ones with different businessmen, because who else could afford cars anyway? There was maybe an hour wait between each ride, though, meaning by the time we saw the bright lights of Philadelphia rising above the dark road it was real late at night.

When I opened the door to my house Mama was asleep already, but she heard me come in and ran down to give me a hug attack. After all she's a mom.

We'd driven about three thousand miles maybe, been to five cities and seen 14 ball games, and it was hard to believe I was finally back in my own wonderful bed. Good night, reader-people!
—Vinny

P.S. Found out the whole Phillies score from Mort's before I went home. We've won six in a row, and the Evil Giants are in town tomorrow for the Decoration Day double-header. Let's get 'em!

PHL 250 204 200 - 14 18 0
BOS 140 000 002 - 7 11 2

Other National League games:

at CUBS 6-11-0, PIRATES 2-8-2
It's a National holiday! Gabby Hartnett slugs a 3-run homer to take the lead in the 4th and that old drunk Alexander finally kills the Pirate winning streak at twelve by pitching the entire way. Five of the eight Bucs hits are extra base ones, but for once most of them happen with nobody else on the base paths. Pittsburgh will now head back to Forbes to play two tomorrow with the Cardinals.

ROBINS 7-16-1, at GIANTS 1-7-2
None other than Tiny Osborne shuts down the Giant win streak at five as Bernie Neis, Andy High and Zack Wheat combine for ten hits off Barnes at the top of the lineup. Both Barnes brothers have a horrible day, in fact, pitching in different parks, and let's hope it's a bad sign as the Giants head down here. Hugh McQuillan will start the first game for them tomorrow, and he can be tough.

NATIONAL LEAGUE through Thursday, May 29
Pittsburgh Pirates	28	11	.718	—
New York Giants	23	18	.561	6
Cincinnati Reds	24	19	.558	6
Brooklyn Robins	21	19	.525	7.5
St. Louis Cardinals	22	21	.512	8
Philadelphia Phillies	19	23	.452	10.5
Chicago Cubs	19	24	.442	11
Boston Braves	10	31	.244	19